By Omulo Okoth, The Standard

Jane Nyambura fights back tears as he narrates her one-month experience in Italy.

She boarded a Swissair flight early April to Italy, invited verbally to run in the Turin Marathon.

On reaching Domodossola, near Turin, she found her Italian contact person with different plans.

"He informed me that up to 10 better Kenyan women had entered the Turin Marathon and thus I stood no chance of doing well. Instead, he suggested, I would run in other local races," Nyambura says.

"But after the race, I visited the website for the race and found out, to my surprise, that there were only two Kenyan women, Beatrice Omwanza, who won, and Rita Cheptoo who was second," says Nyambura.

"I smelt a rat. Something was certainly not right. But I had come all the way to Italy and I wanted to take back some money. I thus decided to give it a try and see what he was up to.

"I ran a 12km race near Rome and won in 40.02. The winner was to earn Euro 200 (Sh20,000), but the manager paid me Euro 50 (Sh5,000).

"I then entered a 21km race, whose winner was to earn Euro 450 (Sh45,000). I not only won but also set a course record of 72 minutes, which was to earn me a further Euro 100 (Sh10,000). The manager paid me Euro50.

"I proceeded to run another 21km race, an international race whose winner was to keep Euro 1,000 (Sh100,000). I was third behind Jane Ekimat and Jumanne from Tanzania. I should have received Euro 400 (Sh40,000) and Euro150 (Sh15,000). Instead, he paid me Euro200 (Sh20,000).

Undeterred, Nyambura, who had already overstayed in Europe considering the circumstances under which she left Kenya, went for another race. This time, the race appearance fees was declared as Euro200 (Sh20,000) and the winner’s purse was worth Euro 250 (Sh25,000). She was paid Euro200 (Sh20,000).

Sensing that things were taking a turn for the worse, just running and being paid without seeing any documents, she sought advice from a fellow Kenyan, Samuel Tarus, who had also suffered under this same manager.

"The manager insisted that for me to run in the race, I must have run a sub-2:30. I contacted Tarus who organised with the race manager. I ran the race, Fano Marathon, and earned Euro1,500 (Sh150,000), which I felt was much better than the peanuts I was earning in his race.

"The second person was 18 minutes behind me. I ran and won easily. This was the beginning of my torment under this man. He hit the roof on learning that I ran in Fano. When I returned to the hotel, accompanied by two Kenyan girls Freschia Waithaka and Sally Lagat, who had suffered worse experience, than myself, I found him waiting for me," she says.

"He demanded that I remove my things from the hotel room and I go to the train station to spend my night there. How could I dare enter a race without his consent?" he demanded.

"He pushed me down the stairs, kicked me from behind but I ran fast for dear life. I went to the police and was told to return at 1am because none of the officers present could understand English.

"I stayed away from the hotel, preferring the chilling night until 3am when the policewoman came. She telephoned the manager who kept saying "Kenyana problema".

"I just wanted my ticket so that I could fly back home. When I left Nairobi, not even my husband was aware because he was upcountry in Nyeri. I thought I would just dash there for a weekend, run the Turin Marathon and return home.

"The policewoman tried to press assault charges, but again I don’t know how it all went. When I called him to report to the police, he told me "Fakuro" and hang up.

"Back at the police, I was ordered to produce my passport. He was ordered to produce an inventory of my races and how much was accruing from there.

"I noticed that he excluded many races, but I did not know how to explain all this in Italian. Instead, I saw he exaggerated rent charges on my room.

"To my surprise, the three Kenyans (names withheld) I brought as witnesses turned against me. Well, I was not surprised because one of them was his girlfriend. They said I was in the wrong because I changed managers too often.

"Suddenly, my fingerprints were being taken and I was told I was under arrest for flouting Italian immigration laws. I explained that I did not know that I was supposed to register with the police and that it was the duty of my manager to formalise my stay. After all, he invited me for a weekend race after which I was supposed to return home.

"I stayed for two days at the police station, then transferred to Milan, which is a bigger police station than the one in Domodossola. I was informed I would not return to Italy in 10 years. They bought me a ticket to Sicily where illegal immigrants are held at a Red Cross camp.

"I was offered a public lawyer who interviewed me. Luckily, I saw the telephone numbers for the Kenyan Embassy in Rome. I called the Embassy, then a representative flew to Sicily. It was a big item in the Press.

"I was flown to Rome and was deported to Kenya last month," she says.

Nyambura narrates chilling experiences by poor Kenyan runners in Italy. One of them spent nights in the cold at the train station and developed serious fever. One turned to begging on the streets after returning home became impossible.

The lucky ones like Tarus deal directly with race directors and are comfortable. It is a serious human rights issue what managers with dubious backgrounds subject Kenyans to.

But because they return home with up to Sh500,000, they persevere the inhuman treatment at the hands of these managers.

Omulo Okoth, wrote this article for The East African Standard